The present invention relates to a deep-fryer, which comprises an elongate deep-frying trough and an endless conveyor belt, which is arranged to travel along a carrying run along the bottom of the deep-frying trough from an inlet end to an outlet end thereof and to travel along a return run from the outlet end back to the inlet end.
Such deep-fryers are known and usually have a deflecting roller at the inlet end and a deflecting roller at the outlet end, which deflecting rollers form transitions between the carrying run and the return run. The run of the conveyor belt in the deep-frying trough is usually directed by means of guides, which engage the conveyor belt at its side edges and forces it to travel along run portions, which are angled to each other. The movement of the conveyor belt in the deep-frying trough is obtained by the deflecting roller at the outlet end, which deflecting roller is adapted to drivingly engage the conveyor belt and is itself rotated by a driving motor. However, also the deflecting roller at the inlet end can be adapted to drivingly engage the conveyor belt.
It goes without saying that in large deep-fryers having a long and/or wide deep-frying trough the conveyor belt has corresponding dimensions, which makes the driving heavy and often makes the conveyor belt bend in an undesirable manner along the carrying run.
Therefore one object of the present invention is to eliminate these drawbacks of prior-art deep-fryers of the above-mentioned kind.
According to the invention, this object is achieved by the deep-fryer, which is of the kind stated by way of introduction, being given the features defined in appended claim 1. Preferred embodiments of this deep-fryer are stated in the dependent claims.
According to the invention, one and the same driving motor is thus used for driving the two deflecting rollers. Furthermore, the driving motor is connected to drive a driving shaft, which is arranged between the inlet end and the outlet end of the deep-fryer trough and which is connected to the respective deflecting rollers via a respective angular gear for synchronous movement of the conveyor belt at the inlet end and the outlet end. As a result, the tensile stress in the conveyor belt will be considerably reduced in the carrying run, where the bending tendency can be completely eliminated, as well as in the return run. Moreover, this construction makes the synchronisation of the feeding effected by the deflecting rollers positively operated and thus completely secured.
According to a preferred embodiment, the two angular gears have the same gear ratio and thus the two deflecting rollers have the same diameter to obtain synchronous feeding of the conveyor belt.
To adjust the length of the conveyor belt along the carrying run, the driving shaft can be divided into two parts, whose relative angular position is adjustable.
By the inventive design of the deep-fryer, the stress exerted on the conveyor belt can thus be reduced to a very large extent, and consequently there is no risk that the conveyor belt will bend along the carrying run. Furthermore, the conveyor belt does not have to be positively operated by means of guides to press it down to the bottom of the deep-frying trough, but the conveyor belt can be conveyed along the carrying run on simple sliding bars, which considerably reduces the friction that counter-acts the movement of the conveyor belt. Finally, the conveyor belt can be made to travel along a relatively steep run from the deflecting roller at the inlet end down to the bottom of the deep-frying trough, so that the outside dimensions of the length of the deepfryer can be considerably reduced without reducing the length of the distance that the conveyor belt moves along the bottom of the deep-frying trough. The reduction of the distance up to the oil bath in the deep-frying trough also facilitates the feeding of the products that are to be deep-fried, i.e. the feeding device can be made shorter.